“Don’t worry,” Cas replied. “This is inside another one of those bubbles. Outside, it’s still twilight. Or, it was when we went in. I don’t think we’ve been in there for more than an hour or two.”

  “Two-point-three-five,” Box replied.

  “Then let’s get outside this field,” Evie replied. “Maybe it’s still blocking comms.” Her stomach turned again. Something was wrong.

  “Look.” Laura pointed to the archway when it finally came into view. It seemed like it was a kilometer away, but that might have just been the star beating down on them. “The arch.”

  Evie glanced up and saw a splash of red on the right side of the archway. It was smeared, but fresh. “Is that—?”

  “The blood of the one you mutilated,” Martial replied. “He’s out there. And there may be others.”

  “Quickly, through the arch,” Evie ordered. They all crossed through, but when she came out on the other side in the jungle, her fears manifested. For one, it was still daylight. And two, the star seemed to be moving across the sky at a rapid rate, though it wasn’t setting. For some reason they were stuck in perpetual daylight now.

  “Oh, that’s not good,” Martial said.

  “Robeaux to base camp. Someone respond.” His comm unit crackled.

  “Commander?”

  “Xax?” Cas drew his hand closer to his face. “Can you hear me? What’s the situation there?”

  “We’ve been holed up since we were attacked by this…bear-like thing. Then suddenly it was light outside,” she said.

  Evie motioned for all of them to begin jogging in the direction of camp. Cas could run and talk at the same time. “Anything else?” he said, trotting behind the others. Evie pulled back so she could hear.

  “Zaal doesn’t have much time left. We’re still holed up in the shuttles now, should we leave and try to restart the engines?”

  “Yes,” Cas replied, glancing at Evie. “If you have to go out, only send a few people at a time. Those bear-things may not be the only things out there. We’re at least thirty minutes from your position.”

  “Understood, we’ll do what we can until you arrive.” Cas cut the comm.

  “The alien computer should have self-destructed by now,” Evie said, glancing back to the arch they could no longer see due to the underbrush.

  “I’m sure you took care of it. What were you expecting, an explosion?” He had a grin plastered on his face.

  She returned the gesture; it felt good to smile again. “I guess not.” She was relieved Xax and the others were still alive; she’d been afraid the car’nivacs would come and try to destroy the camp, but fortunately that hadn’t happened. So then why did she still feel that pit in the bottom of her stomach?

  “Hey, keep up,” Jann yelled behind them, forcing Martial forward. He was lagging behind. He ran up beside Evie as Box hopped over a fallen log, prompting everyone else to crawl under it or go around it.

  “I know this isn’t what you want to hear,” Martial said. “But there was no way you could have ever known about me. They altered my genetic code and they made me appear human enough to fool anything the Coalition had. The funny thing was, I didn’t start keeping an eye on you until you’d left Sissk.”

  “You know about Sissk?” Evie asked.

  “I know a lot. I got lucky on Tempest, they needed me to fill a role. But when you were on the Saragosa, I had to rely on comms back and forth from a contact of mine. And when you were in the academy I couldn’t get too close. “

  “You were there too?” Evie asked as Box slowed ahead of them to push through some thick brush.

  He nodded. “I did my best to blend into the background.”

  “You’re right, I don’t want to hear it.” The fact he was part of the Athru in whatever way was secondary. She was more upset she’d had someone tailing her most of her life and she’d never realized. She’d never suspected. Greene had never suspected. Hadn’t there been background checks? Records? All of which was stored in the Coalition’s database. Those files couldn’t be altered. Unless…

  “You had someone on the inside.” She shook her head. “Someone willing to alter official Coalition records to give you a past.”

  “It wasn’t quite that simple,” he replied. “And don’t treat me like I’m the bad person here. I was following orders. Just like you were.”

  “Orders from whom?” she asked. He only shook his head. When she got back to the shuttles, she was going to do a very thorough search through the records for his background information. Even if they were fake, they might lead to something. She wasn’t about to let this go, no matter how little he wanted to reveal. She’d find out the truth one way or another. But for the time being, she just wanted to get back to her crew.

  ***

  Xax turned away from the comm, glad to feel some circulation of air. The power in the shuttle had reinitialized less than ten minutes before the commander had called, which had been the relief they’d all needed. Her plan to confuse the bear-things with her scent had worked for a while, and she’d managed to get all of the security crew back into the second shuttle, sealing them all inside. But every time she peeked out to check the situation, the creatures were out there, still patrolling the camp. As far as she could tell they hadn’t sat down to rest or even paused in their search, and from the way their long, black tongues hung from their mouths they appeared over-weary. And yet, they wouldn’t stop. She was afraid they might exhaust themselves to death. But when it had suddenly become daylight and she looked again, they were gone, their large tracks leading off into the woods. She’d been hesitant to exit in case it was a trap, but the without any air circulation the shuttles were getting stuffy.

  Not to mention she feared the worst for Zaal. But as soon as the power had come back on and she’d been able to talk to the other shuttle, she’d been relieved to find him still among the living. Somehow, he’d hung on.

  “So, what’s the play?” Ensign Tileah asked from behind her.

  “I’m going out there. I need to check on the other shuttle. Caspian said to get the engines up and running, they’re on their way.”

  “Shouldn’t be too much trouble now that the power is back on,” she replied. “You go check; I’ll try to reach the Tempest. But this time thing might make that difficult.”

  “Good luck,” Xax said, opening the shuttle door. She checked all around the opening and finding nothing threatening, hopped out and trotted over to her shuttle where she’d left the rest of the crew. She tapped on the door and one of the engineers slid the door open just a crack.

  “Oh, doctor,” he said.

  “Crewman. Gather a small Engineering team. We need to make preparations to leave.”

  “We’re leaving?” he asked. “But what about the ship’s limited resources?”

  “Not my call,” Xax replied. “Those orders come straight from our first officer.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied, nodding to a few of the others sitting on crates in the cargo area. “Fleming, Norris, you’re with me.” The two men nodded and followed him outside. “I’ll report back once we’ve gone over the checklist of each shuttle.”

  “Very good,” Xax said, barely listening. Her focus was on Zaal. She weaved through the shuttle’s cargo area into the sleeping quarters, where most of the bunks were taken up by other members of the crew. She bent down to Zaal’s bunk. His exoskeleton was completely still, but the medical monitor she’d installed above his head still indicated activity from the person within. “Don’t worry, we’re headed back to Tempest soon. And I’ll put you in stasis before I bring you back to this planet again. If that’s what we end up doing.”

  There was a small spike in activity on Zaal’s monitor, but the exoskeleton still didn’t respond. It must have completely corroded or otherwise shut down. Xax stood, checking with the rest of the crew. Some of them had fevers. Despite having cleared this planet, it still wasn’t unheard of for teams who went down to planets to catch non-lethal bugs. She’d have to give an immuno-boost to the entire crew. And now that there was no longer a concern of her supplies running out of coolant, she could begin immediately.

  Xax returned to the cargo area and found the storage containers, opening the first one which included a general immune-booster in addition to a microscanner. Both could be administered at the same time, and while destroying any foreign objects in the system, the scanner would also search for any unknowns. Just as she turned to head back, two hands full of the boosters, there came a high-pitched scream from outside.

  Xax dropped the vials and ran.

  37

  “I’m picking up…um, something.”

  Cas chanced a look at Box as they trotted, which turned out to be a mistake. Because the moment he took his eyes off what was in front of him he tripped on an errant branch and fell face-first into the dirt. The rest of their party slowed behind them.

  “Oh. Sorry, boss.”

  Cas stared up into Box’s good eye, pushing himself up off the ground with a grunt. “Don’t offer to help or anything, I’m fine.”

  Box pointed to his bandaged arms, which had turned black from all the fluid leaking into them. “If you haven’t noticed, I am injured. Are you saying I should risk further injury to assist you?”

  “No,” Cas grumbled, dusting himself off and not bothering to turn around. He was too embarrassed to face the others.

  “C’mon,” Laura said, pushing past him. “Let’s not linger. If there’s one rule about this place, it’s you don’t stay in a single spot for long.”

  “There’s…um…still the matter of what I heard,” Box said, holding up a single finger as if he was holding everyone for a presentation.

  “Which was?” Cas said. He couldn’t help but catch Evie’s eye. And though he knew she saw him right back, her face was blank, like she was staring off into space. It was so disconcerting, Cas almost shuddered.

  “A scream…oh wait, there’s another one. They came from the direction of the camp.”

  Evie’s eyes snapped into focus just as Cas realized what Box was saying. “Shit.” Without hesitation he took off in the same direction they’d been heading, Box trotting to catch up. Had more of those bear-things infiltrated? Or was it the Athru? There were obviously more than just a few in the vicinity. They needed to reach the camp immediately.

  Just as he began to recognize the foliage, Cas heard the first scream himself. He vaulted over limbs, rocks and anything else in his way; his only focus on getting to their people. He wasn’t sure if anyone else had kept up as everything around him had fallen away. Even the burning in his legs seemed secondary. All he knew was he couldn’t stop.

  The sounds of weapons fire permeated the air just as Cas broke through the underbrush. It was the first time he’d seen the camp in full daylight and it took his senses a second to make the adjustment. Box and Evie appeared on either side of him. “By Kor,” Evie whispered.

  Bodies of their fellow crewmates lay strewn across the open space, blood coloring almost every surface. Three Athru, each in different parts of the camp, faced down groups of the remaining crew with pulse rifles. Just as before, the Athru took the hits from the crew’s pulse rifles and kept on coming. None of them noticed Cas and the others.

  Cas yanked his boomcannon from its holster, making sure it was set to fire projectiles. “We have to stop them, no matter the cost.”

  “No matter the cost,” Evie repeated. Cas glanced behind him at Jann, who had her rifle unslung and ready, and then to Laura who was baring her teeth like a wild animal ready to pounce. Martial seemed to be the only one unsteady about entering the fray.

  Cas tore into the arena, the boomcannon outstretched in front of him and fired at the closest Athru. It was missing its arm; Cas had to assume it was the same one from the pyramid. The first projectile hit it in the back and it turned to Cas, its dark eyes narrowed and angry. Nurse Riley, who’d been trying to keep it off him, fell back as the Athru squared up against Cas. He fired the boomcannon again but the Athru dodged, leaping high into the air and landing on top of the nearest shuttle.

  “Pulse weapons are ineffective against them!” he heard Jann call out, but he didn’t dare take his attention off the one in front of him. These aliens were too fast and he’d underestimated them once before. It wasn’t something he planned to repeat. He could almost sense the hatred radiating off the Athru and as they remained in their respective positions, their gazes locked on each other, Cas couldn’t help but listen to the sounds of carnage all around him. If only he had a distraction to give him an edge.

  “Whatever your reasons for doing this, I’m not going to let you kill my crew,” Cas said.

  “Tal de leth, os moch deh moch,” the creature snarled.

  Cas jerked his head to the side, keeping his eyes on the Athru. “Yeah, I don’t know what that means. What I do know is your plan for my friend didn’t go exactly as you hoped. She beat whatever you put inside her.”

  The Athru’s eyes flashed and for a brief second it altered its gaze. That was all it took.

  Just as the Athru realized its mistake, Cas pulled the trigger. The bullet struck the alien’s front lobe, leaving a decent hole. His body tensed for a second before toppling off the top of the shuttle.

  “One down,” Cas said to himself. He turned, searching for his next target.

  Box had latched on to one of the aliens and was attempting to keep it restrained, yet the Athru wasn’t fighting back, despite the fact it had an easy hit to Box’s faceplate. It only seemed interested in breaking free to attack the others.

  Strangely, the other alien also seemed to be attempting to fight past Evie and Martial, who fended it off as it tried to reach Laura, Jann and the others headed for the shuttles. Evie blocked and parried with expert precision, while Martial used nothing but his fists.

  Box turned to Cas, the alien struggling in his grasp. “What do you want me to do with this one?” he yelled. As he did, Cas saw one of the jacket sleeves Cas had wrapped around Box’s arm come undone and more fluid leak from Box’s arm. The makeshift bandage lost what little tension it still had and fell to Box’s side, useless. Without both arms holding him, the Athru slipped from Box’s grip and sprinted away, circling around the far side of the camp.

  “Oh,” Box said, watching him go. “Never mind. Give me a hand?”

  Cas ignored him. Obviously, Box wasn’t a target. The Athru seemed to only be going after humans, which only further confirmed Evie and Martial weren’t all they appeared. He glanced around; the other alien had given up and disappeared back into the woods as well.

  “Cas! Get to the shuttles, we need to get out of here,” Evie yelled.

  Cas scanned the immediate area, then jogged to the center of camp, keeping an eye out for a surprise attack.

  “When I sent a crew out to start on the engines,” Xax said, huffing, the pulse rifle still in her one hand, “—they attacked. Took out the engineering crew. When I came outside to see what was going on, I saw them doing something to the engines.”

  “Fuck!” Cas yelled, jogging around to the back of the ship. Sure enough, the Athru had torn the outer casings of the engines off, and damaged the primary injectors. “Is it like this on all of them?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Xax replied. Cas had a hunch they had disabled any shuttle that was occupied, betting the humans couldn’t move to an undamaged shuttle without being slaughtered. And they were probably right. The bastards were fast, and the longer they stayed here the more likely it was even more would show up.

  “I’ll go check the others,” Jann said, trotting away from the group toward the other ships.

  “There!” Evie said, as one of the Athru flew out of the woods directly at Jann. Cas pulled his weapon to fire but before he could get a good shot, Jann had flipped her rifle in her hands and used the butt of it to strike the Athru in the face. It blinked as it stumbled back, giving Cas had a clear shot, and he fired right at its head. The bullet grazed the alien’s cheek and he turned and ran back into the cover of the woods.

  “Catch!” Cas yelled, throwing Jann the boomcannon. “It’s got a kick so watch out.” She nodded, giving him a grin as she dropped her rifle. Cas returned his attention to the shuttle. The damage wasn’t that bad, but would take a few minutes to repair. He motioned to Evie. “Can you give me a few minutes?”

  “As much as we can,” Evie replied, scanning the field.

  ***

  Even though it wasn’t an ambush, it felt like one. And in the back of her mind she could feel the other soaking it all up, laughing. She hated that thing was a part of her and that she was unable to rid herself of it. And then it hit Evie…it seemed like the more she thought about it, the stronger it became. Instead she focused her thoughts on tactics to repel the Athru. Despite having two left they were as lethal as anything else and she had to make sure to protect Cas until he could get the shuttles up and running again. She glanced over to Laura, still beside her with her weapon out, ready to die to destroy these things.

  “You look like a pro,” Evie quipped.

  “After spending as long in the jungle as I have, you learn what to look for,” she replied. “I think I could get used to life back on a planet. At least you never have to worry about the anti-grav failing.”

  “Life planetside is overrated. Give me a ship any day.” She continued to scan the jungle.

  “What are we going to do when we get back up there? How can we stay alive if the ship still isn’t functional?”

  “I don’t know,” Evie replied. “But we obviously can’t stay here. We’ll have to figure out something else.” As the last word came out of her mouth Evie caught the blur of something in her peripheral vision. Before she even realized she’d told herself to do it, her sword had blocked one of the Athru’s hands from coming down on Laura’s face, possibly saving her from disfiguration or worse, decapitation. He growled as Evie’s strength matched his own. Stunned, Laura pulled the trigger for a moment of rapid-fire burst until he fell back. The pulse rifles may not kill them, but Evie couldn’t imagine their skin was so thick they didn’t feel it at all.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26